But while he may not be competing against them when the Formula One season begins on Sunday, Sileby’s Stephen Jelley is happy looking forward to the forthcoming British Touring Cars campaign after a whirlwind start to his career.

The 26-year-old, who grew up in Rothley before making the short trip over the River Soar to his current home, is a natural racer and stormed to prominence despite only taking up motorsport eight years ago.

“I started when I was 18 and didn’t do much karting like the majority of drivers have done,” Jelley told the Echo. “I just wanted to have a go one day and I went down to Silverstone and did a bit of karting.

“Then I became hooked, did a few club events and Formula Ford and started winning a few things so it all snowballed from there.

“I’ve had an interesting career so far. I did well in the British F3 championship in 2007 and came third.

“In that time I’ve raced some of the best drivers in the world including Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. At one point last year I worked out that I had taken on five of the drivers on the Formula One grid.

“But I’ve now come into what is the best and most professional touring championship in Britain.”

After graduating from Wimbledon School of Art with a degree in fine art, Jelley spent two seasons racing against some of the most talented young drivers in Formula Three with the Raikkonen-Robertson racing team ran by former F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen and Jelley’s manager at the time Steve Robertson.

One of his team-mates was Bruno Senna, the nephew of the late F1 legend Ayrton Senna. In the last few months Senna has been talked about as a possible F1 driver for the new season although that hasn’t materialised as yet.

Does Jelley wish he was being talked about in a similar fashion?

“I wish Bruno all the best as he’s a really nice lad and when we drove together we were really close,” he continued. “When we were both at Raikkonen-Robertson racing our times were very similar and I think had certain situations been different I may have had more of a look in.

“But I don’t wish I was in his situation. I’m happy now with my drive in the Touring Cars. Bruno may wish he was in my boots as I have a drive for next season which he doesn’t.”

The British Touring Car season begins next weekend.

It will be Jelley’s second season for Team RAC after finishing 15th in a difficult first year. However with a full programme of testing behind him the signs are already looking good this time around. At a testing session for all the teams at Rockingham last week Jelley was third quickest with team-mate Colin Turkington quickest.

“The first season was very challenging,” admitted Jelley. “It was definitely a steep learning curve.

“I hadn’t driven a touring car until a few weeks before the season started because it was a last minute thing and I wasn’t as prepared as most of the other drivers and didn’t really know the circuits.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the only circuit we raced twice on last season saw me pick up my only pole position the second time we visited before an engine problem hampered me in the race.

“Last year I dovetailed the start of the touring car season with the GP2 Series in Asia. With hindsight that wasn’t a very good thing to do.

“I was very much committed to both and they were both interesting but the cars were totally different and it was difficult to juggle doing both successfully.

“This season we’ve been doing some really good testing and now I know the people and circuits I should be more competitive.

“The Touring Car is a very different set up to what I was driving before. It’s much more like your standard road car that you can buy in the garage.

“You don’t have the aerodynamics of say Formula Three cars so the racing is much tighter and there’s more overtaking. There’s also a lot more bumping each other and jostling for position.”

Given that many racing cars that Jelley has used in the past have been very brittle was the idea of being encouraged to bump into other drivers difficult to mentally take in?

“It did take a little bit of getting used to. In single seater racing if you feel a bump you know that you’re race is over. But I have relaxed a little now and I know I have to go out there and give it out as much as I can.”